WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Chairman of the Senate Banking Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Protection, issued the following statement on reports that banks involved with Facebook's initial public officering (IPO) shared vital earnings information with only a limited number of institutional investors:

“Effective capital markets require transparency and accountability, not one set of rules for insiders and another for the rest of us. There’s a lot that we don’t know about this IPO but a lot that we do. We know that the SEC must fully investigate and take appropriate action if it discovers any violations. The conduct in this highly-publicized IPO only reinforces that the Senate was mistaken in voting to remove oversight from approximately 98 percent of all IPOs—for companies making less than $1 billion per year.”